Step 3: Grinding

Step 4: Igniting

The only thing left to do is to ignite it. To do so, add a few drops of water with a syringe or pipette (or stand well back and see if you can hit it ...

You probably already know a few ways to do this, but none that beats this method! It will not only make you be able to start a combustion with a drop of water, but it will be the coolest GREEN flame!

For a brief description please watch this video:

Note: Alot of people have mistakenly claimed that I have stolen video and pictures for this Instructable. To clear everything up, I didn't steal anything, I simply posted elsewhere long time ago, and eventually it became popular on the internet. Look in the beginning of the video for the signature.

Step 1: Materials

Before we start, I must warn you. This is obiously NOT a safe experiment you should allow small kids to make, as this will combust with an explosive-like effect with a drop of water, and might not always go off the way you want it to. This mixture is hygroscopic (will soak moisture from air) because off the ammonium nitrate included. So if it is very humid or raining, making this is not a good idea.

Okay, so let's get started!For this project we will need following items:

two years ago i did this experiment for my classmates to get them excited about chemistry. i have found the more reactive the metal in the salt is the better. potassium is 3 to 4 times more powerful that sodium . i haven't got to treat lithium chloride it should be the most reactive.

be careful when making this, as it may be illegal to intentionally create an explosion in some states. Massachusetts is one of them. The fine's anywhere from $10- $100, but it's unlikely you'll be caught.

cold pack- sold at drugstores, used for injuries. you squeeze the pack of water inside and burst it, and the resulting reaction takes more energy than it creates, therefore making it cold. it's useful for sports, where there's no freezer around.

Once you light a mixture that has the oxidiser in it the only way to put it out is to remove the fuel source. So unless you want to poke a stick in it and try to scrape out the un-burnt part of the mixture while it's going you basicaly can't put it out.

When i was a kid, cub/scout master started a fire with a mysterious potion. It turned out to be potassium permangemate, sugar, and glycerine. He'd prepped the fire by grinding the potassium permangemate and sugar into a fine powder and laid it in the kindeling, then he just poored the glycerine on the fire in front of us, and whoosh FIRE! :D I experimented with it at home, warming the glycerine (only hand warm) improved the reaction. Can't remember the sugar to pot ratio, try half and half, but i think they're was more pot than sugar involved. Potassium permangemate is sold over the counter at chemists in tiny little pots, its quite cheap. Old people soak their feet in it or something. Who knows why? Beware it will dye anything very very purple on contact with moisture! Good luck (sorry no Zinc involved in this one:)

On Survivorman he usually uses magnesium. If you strike it with something hard, it sparks. The spark ignites some sort of fuel (firewood, coconut shellings, etc.). It's a lot different than getting the fire itself out of a chemical reaction. (Or did he actually do that once or twice?)

no kwixr is correct. it was not his usual metal match routine, but a chemical reaction w potassium permanganate and glycerin. he is also correct. it was a slow motion reaction which yielded fire. this would also work in a pinch and is good to know. thanks fr the instructable.

I saw that Survivorman. His was magnesium shavings and another common liquid--I want to say potassium or variant thereof. Only 2 ingredients, I think There was definitely mag and some liquid chem, and whoof--fire. Are there 2 common chemicals only that will create fire without extraordinary heat or something?

glycerin is over the counter sugary stuff, its used in cooking so should be able to be got at supermarket, if not from a chemist. as for antifreeze i think you're thinking of glycol - toxic! (and not flamable as far as i know)